Monday, September 2, 2013

Carrot Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

These cupcakes
are fairly new to my life, but since the first batch have rapidly become a
staple and a popular choice by many.

First let’s be
clear, they definitely aren’t healthy carrot cakes, but really you could pretend that they
are with the amount of time you spend grating carrots. That’s what I like about
these cakes; you burn some calories grating carrots, strengthen your right (or
left) arm muscles, and subsequently replenish those calories with one (or four)
of these babies.

I made these for
a friend last year for her birthday – she wrote me a post-it thank you note
saying something along the lines of – “so nutty, so carroty, so delicious” – I
feel that sums up these new favourites of mine. I may add a few more though –
“gingery, sweet-but-not-too-sweet, more-ish, moist” I know…those last two were a bit
schmaltzy.

4.Whisk sugar and oil in large bowl until well blended – you can do
this either with a hand held electric mixer, or an electric stand-mixer.

5.Whisk in eggs one at a time, whisking well after each addition.

6.Add flour mixture and stir with spatula to combine.

7.Stir in grated carrots, walnuts and raisins and mix until well blended.

8.Divide batter among cupcake molds, filling 3/4 of each (you may find
you can make more than 24 cupcakes but generally this makes enough for 24).

9.Bake cupcakes for 15 minutes, turn pans around to ensure cakes are
evenly baked within the oven, and bake for another 5 minutes (approximately
– as this depends on your oven) or until a cake skewer inserted into the centre of
the cake comes out clean.

10.Let cool in pans for five
minutes or so, then transfer cupcakes to a cooling rack.

11.Let cool completely before icing them – a good trick is
to place cupcake on the back of your wrist, when they feel cool on your wrist,
they are ready to be iced.

Maple Cream
Cheese Frosting*Makes enough
for about 20 cupcakes (comfortably) and enough for 24 cupcakes at a stretch –
if you want a lot of icing on each cupcake, then I suggest you times this
recipe by 1.5